What Should Global Climate Justice Mean?

DCSWA will be hosting a panel on climate justice at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, January 24th. The term “climate justice” is widely used — for instance in the United Nations Paris Agreement on Climate of 2015 — but it’s far from clear what it concretely means. The typical answer in the UN’s language is that “justice demands that those who have contributed more to the problem assume a greater responsibility for solving it. Heavy emitters have to act first and fast in cutting emissions.” And wealthier nations must provide “finance to countries with more limited means so they can keep up with enormous financial burdens as climate change accelerates.”

In this panel, two leading experts will expand on what global “climate justice” means, or should mean, in practice. Dr. Farhana Sultana, Professor of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University is an interdisciplinary scholar, speaker, and author who works on political ecology and climate justice. Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and the author of Reconsidering Reparations and related essays including The Fight for Reparations Cannot Ignore Climate Change. The panel will be moderated by DCSWA board member Jag Bhalla.